Labour market reforms can raise employment and incomes. Establishing a public employment service as a one-stop shop for job seekers would make it easier for people to find jobs, and for employers to find the right workers. Costly industrial actions have held back the economy without delivering major gains to workers. To reduce conflict and … Continue reading
YOUTH unemployment deteriorated between 2008 and the first quarter of this year, and more young people have given up looking for work, Statistics SA’s youth labour market report showed on Monday. Of the approximately 19.7-million working-age youth (15 to 34 years), 9.8-million were not economically active, 6.2-million were employed, and 3.6-million were unemployed. The “not … Continue reading
South Africa has been hit by a double whammy: Stats SA released two sets of economic data today and both results were disappointing. The unemployment rate has risen sharply in the first quarter of this year, with 26,4 percent of potentially economically active South Africans not working. South Africa has nearly 36-million employable people, but … Continue reading
Nearly 2 000 farmers, many from the Western Cape, have applied for exemption from the minimum wage for farm workers. Labour Minister Mildred Olifant told a press briefing on Thursday, following her department’s budget vote speech, that 1 988 farmers had applied for exemption from the new R105-a-day wage included in the sectoral determination for … Continue reading
The number of unemployed increased by 100 000 people to 4.6 million between the fourth quarter of 2012 and the first quarter of 2013, Statistics SA (StatsSA) said on Monday. This took the country’s official unemployment to 25.2% from 24.9% in the fourth quarter of 2012, StatsSA said in its Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS). … Continue reading
Farmers accept that the minimum wage will increase. In addition farmers proposed that the parties jointly assess the nature and extent of ‘in kind’ benefits and how these should be accounted for in the wage structure. Whilst the affordability of higher wages may be a constraint, the broader policy environment which impacts on the sector’s profitability requires … Continue reading